UDP leader served notice

OUR CORRESPONDENT

Ardent Basaiawmoit

Shillong, May 27: The United Democratic Party (UDP) has served a notice to its legislator Ardent Basaiawmoit to come clear whether he will contest from the party in the Assembly elections early next year, after he expressed doubt about the ideology of the party.

The general secretary of the party, B.G. Momin, on May 17 issued a letter asking Basaiawmoit to clarify his stand on his candidature giving the legislator a month’s time to respond.

During the state election committee meeting held on April 23, the party had released the first list of 26 candidates, including 10 sitting legislators to contest the Assembly polls next year.

During the meeting, Basaiawmoit questioned the ideology and philosophy of the party and wanted the party leaders to clarify the issues raised by him.

However, in the letter addressed to Basaiwmoit, the party stated that the ideology of UDP is clearly mentioned in the party manifesto.

UDP leader Donkupar Roy said during the last election committee meeting held on April 23, it was decided to issue tickets to all the sitting legislators of the party.

“In case the sitting legislators have not applied for the party ticket, we also wanted to get confirmation about whether they will contest from the party,” Roy said. Among the 10 UDP legislators, while Basaiwmoit is yet to apply for a party ticket, former chief minister J.D. Rymbai had conveyed to the UDP leadership that he would not contest the Assembly elections any more.

“Rymbai has informed us about his decision, but Basaiwmoit is yet to make his stand clear,” Roy said.

Basaiwmoit said he received a letter from the UDP regarding his candidature, after he raised the issues concerning the ideology and the philosophy of the party, during the April 23 meeting.